Pet odor in wood floors? (hardwood floors, laminate, sofa, refinishing)

[lorelei2873]

I just bought an old house and ripped up the carpet. There were some badly worn fir floors under there in most of the rooms. The job of carpet ripping was simply the most disgusting thing I've ever been through, as it was so dirty and there were pet stains of all imaginable kinds underneath and in the carpet. The odor actually made me dry heave.

After I removed all the carpet and padding, I still have some lingering odor. I am planning to lay laminate and carpet on top of the wood. Does anyone have any suggestions on anything I can do to the wood floor ahead of time to prevent 100 years of cat pee odor from seeping up through the floors?

[dreamofmonterey]

Unfortunately- you may have to rip up the sub-flooring. The wood absorbs everything. Carpet over it still wont help- if its really bad- and I know- re-doing floors is a nightmare!

sunny

[sunsprit]

Try washing the floors first with a very strong solution of Murphy's Oil Soap.

Then wash the floors with a strong bleach solution to kill any lingering bacteria/mold from the urine/moisture.

Lastly, we've had success with Febreeze to remove the last of any lingering odors.

You'll have to give the floor plenty of time to air out between each step, but this process may work. Just depends upon how saturated the flooring is now.

We had a similar problem in our 1885 farmhouse, with at least 80 years of dogs/cats and carpeting in the house ruining the hardwood floors. I had to sand the floors as if I was going to refinish them to get the worst of the saturated urine out of the wood. It looked so good when I was done washing and sanding that we decided to epoxy/urethane refinish the floors instead of re-carpeting.

If the baseboards are saturated, too, then just replace them.

[lbsing]

DON"T WAH IT WITH ANYTHING BEFORE YOU GO GET NATURE"S MIRACLE!!!!
Go to the pet store it works great!!! But works better if you have not used other cleaners first. I got cat pee out of a sofa with it!!

[Janipoo]

This happened to my parents when they bought a house and ripped up the carpets and there were pet stains on the hardwood floor. They had them sanded and refinished and it looks good.

FYI, I don't believe you can install laminate over hardwood, those areas would have to be removed anyway before laying the laminate.

[dennis s]

you could seal the wood with any polyurethane base varnish.

You CAN lay laminate flooring over fir subfloor as long as all of the planks are sound. (no rot or extreme warping)

[june 7th]

Yes, NATURE'S MIRACLE!!! It really is an amazing product!

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by june 7th

Yes, NATURE'S MIRACLE!!! It really is an amazing product!

I agree - it is very good. Unfortunately it wasn't good enough

We've found another product that finished the job that the Nature's Miracle wasn't up to - Zero Odor. It is pricey but it finishes the job very, very well.

My suggestion would be to use the Nature's Miracle a couple of times per instructions and let the area dry completely. If the smell persists use the Zero Odor.

[lorelei2873]

Originally Posted by Janipoo

This happened to my parents when they bought a house and ripped up the carpets and there were pet stains on the hardwood floor. They had them sanded and refinished and it looks good.

FYI, I don't believe you can install laminate over hardwood, those areas would have to be removed anyway before laying the laminate.

Hi, you can install it. I don't have "hardwood" really. I have fir, which is a softer wood. I had two different installers look at it and they both said, "no problem" and recommended laminate over refinishing the wood because fir is soft and kind of fickle to sunlight anyway. One installer was a laminate specialist and the other was a hardwood specialist.

[CHRISTY58]

I have the same problem , i move in this moble home , its a add on room . Some one lock a cat in room for 2 week. I took up carpet and padding .and the room been air out for that two month , i use pet stuff from the pet store. It not working. Then this told me to paint the floor with kile . I have not done that right now ,i was hoping some one can tell me , if that could really work, before i spent more money